Canucks 4 Sabres 2: Burrows turns back time with a weekend to remember

BUFFALO – He may not know where he’s going, but Alex Burrows sure knows where he has been. So does everyone who watched him on Sunday compress his career as a Vancouver Canuck into a single game against the Buffalo Sabres.

Burrows, the 35-year-old who built his unlikely National Hockey League career from a tryout in the East Coast League, had a quintessential performance, scuffling with Sabres goalie Robin Lehner, drawing and killing penalties, scoring a goal and assisting on another as the Canucks beat the Sabres 4-2 to salvage their weekend and halt their slide in the standings.

With the NHL trade deadline 2 ½ weeks away and Burrows the subject of ceaseless speculation, the winger from Montreal turned back time with a four-point weekend that included a goal and assist in the Canucks’ 4-3 loss one day earlier to the Boston Bruins.

He had gone 13 games without a point before that.

Michael Chaput, the minor-league call-up who had one goal in 43 games with the Canucks, scored twice against a leaky Lehner, who had three of the four scoring shots rattle off him.

Jacob Markstrom was far more stout in the Vancouver net, making 26 saves including a rebound stunner against Sam Reinhart with a minute remaining.

Bo Horvat also had another powerful performance, matching Burrows with a goal and assist and making a key shot-block near the end as the Sabres pressed with six skaters against four.

“People say that changed the game,” Burrows said of his altercation with Lehner at 7:15 of the first period when the Canucks trailed 1-0. “But I think it was the power-play goal (that followed) that changed momentum. Bo’s tip from (Ben) Hutton’s shot. Then it seemed we gained some life off of that goal and we were able to play well after that.

“We all feel some urgency right now. We look where we’re at in the standings and we all want to be in the playoffs – the guys in this locker room. A lot of guys gave a little bit more tonight. We weren’t too happy how it finished last night in Boston. We need points now; everybody gets that.”

The Canucks are four points out of the final playoff spot in the Western Conference.

They are simply trying to survive this difficult six-game road trip that continues Tuesday against the Pittsburgh Penguins. They are 2-2 so far.

They looked to be lurching towards 1-3 when they surrendered an early goal to Tyler Ennis after a Markus Granlund turnover. Then Burrows became entangled with Lehner, was attacked by defenceman Justin Falk, and the Canucks went on the power play.

Horvat scored at 9:07 to make it 1-1. Burrows broke a 2-2 tie five minutes into the second period when he chipped Troy Stecher’s centring pass through Lehner during a 4-on-3 rush.

“I think it’s just a game of bounces,” Burrows said of his 30-hour points outburst, which matched his offensive output from the previous 22 games. “Tonight, the puck finds my stick and I just get it away quickly. And my assist was just a pass to the point that I probably do at least twice a game. Points, it’s bounces, law of averages. You just keep trying to do the right things and you’ll get rewarded at some point. That’s probably what it comes down to.”

Of his altercation with Lehner, which occurred after the goalie hooked Burrows, who responded with a shove, the veteran Canuck said: “I didn’t think it was that much. I know there’s an unwritten rule that you don’t fight a goalie. I was kind of backing up in a defensive position, asking what he was doing. He looked pretty angry; he’s a big man. Then he gave me a good shot, and then I saw a six-foot-five defenceman charging at me, not looking too happy.”

Burrows also drew the hooking penalty to Jake McCabe that expired two seconds before Chaput made it 4-2 at 15:33 of the second period.

Jake McCabe of the Sabres upends Alex Burrows.

Burrows’ sudden offensive surge coincides with the remaking of his line. Jannik Hansen joined Burrows and Horvat after Sven Baertschi was concussed last Tuesday in Nashville by Predator Cody McLeod’s unpunished blindside “collision” away from the puck.

The trio had four goals and 10 points on the weekend.

“Bo is Bo right now,” Hansen said of the line’s success. “He drives the bus for us a lot of nights. And I’ve played with Burr for a lot of years now – not always together – and we kind of play the same style. It works well when you have guys who can read off each other. We want to play direct, we want to get it in deep, and we’re responsible defensively.”

Can Horvat drive the bus when he’s 21 years old?

“You can see for yourself,” Hansen said. “Today he was. In Boston he was. It’s tough to ask him to do it every game, but when he’s on, he’s very hard to stop. He’s got a pretty good combination of size, speed and skill, and there’s not a lot of defenders who can handle him. Some can skate with him but not handle him physically, and vice-versa.”

Horvat, who leads the Canucks with 38 points in 56 games, looked a little less powerful after the game, limping badly from his late shot-block.

“They’re making it easy for me right now,” he said of the linemates who have contributed 21 seasons to the Canucks. “They’re working pucks down low in the corners. Janny is coming with lots of speed. And Burr is Burr.”

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Canucks 4 Sabres 2: Burrows turns back time with a weekend to remember